He leans over me, tucking his fingers into the sides of my panties, pulling them down and over my legs and letting them fall to the floor. He slides his hands over the inside of my thighs, opening me up to his greedy eyes.

“I want you so fuckin’ much,” he murmurs as he leans down and places a small kiss just above my pubic bone. I quiver as his hot breath sends a shiver through my body, arching my back, needing his mouth on me. His kisses travel lower, and his tongue comes out and slides through my folds, causing me to gasp as lightning travels through my core. His hands tuck under my knees, and he lifts both my legs until they’re over his shoulders, then sucks my clit into his mouth.

His moan of pleasure is almost as loud as mine, and the vibrations threaten to send me spiraling already. Without thinking, I say, “Marry me.”

Blaze’s mouth stills against me, and I look down at him through the opening of my thighs. He hesitantly looks up at me, opening his mouth like he’s going to say something, then closing it. He licks his lips, and I carefully lower my legs from his shoulders and sit up.

I cup his face, his eyes not showing any clue of his feelings right now. “Blaze, did you hear what I said?” I ask, nervous that he might possibly say no.

He tilts his head. “You wanna run that past me one last time?”

I run my tongue over my suddenly dry lips, my heart beating wildly. “I said… marry me.”

He doesn’t move, his gaze just glued to mine. I reach up and run the back of my hand down his cheek, then rub my thumb over his bottom lip. “I know I’ve hurt you. I know I’ve given you reasons not to ever believe what I say—and maybe I don’t deserve your trust, but God, I do love you. That’s one thing I know for sure. And I want you forever, as my man—” I let a small smirk break loose, running my fingers over his jaw. “—and as my husband.” I say the last word on a whisper.

There are a few heartbeats of silence, and my stomach clenches tighter with each one, then finally he pulls me forward, his hand at the back of my neck, our foreheads now touching. “You mean it? You really want to marry me?”

I let out a laugh, then fat tears start rolling down my cheeks. “Yes, yes!” I cry. “I want to marry you, Blaze. You are my everything.”

Just as the last words slips out, he has me on my back and is towering over me. “I’m going to make you so happy, baby.”

I smile and run my hands through his thick dark hair. “Oh, don’t I know it, and I know exactly how you can start making me happy. Let’s start with something very, very hard.”

He barks out a loud laugh, the vibrations in his body causing his cock to rub against my wet folds. I groan in frustration, wanting him, needing him to fill me, and then, as if he’s read my thoughts, he slowly pushes inside of me.

I sigh in ecstasy, his girth stretching me deliciously, igniting nerves along my inner walls. “Yessss.”

He begins to rock back and forth. “Is this what you want?” he groans into my ear, then moves down and sucks a nipple into his mouth. I feel a fire build in the pit of my stomach as he lavishes my breasts with open-mouthed kisses and gentle nips, the beginning of an orgasm not far away. Faster, harder,” I say, running my hands through his hair and tugging him closer.

He anchors my thighs around him then pulls me up into a seated position, filling me even deeper and stretching me further. I rotate my hips, grinding down on him.

“I’m going to come,” I cry out after only a minute.

“Oh no you don’t. Not yet,” he warns.

I bite down on his shoulder, trying to hold my orgasm at bay. He guides me up and down on his cock with rough hands on my hips, then takes my mouth with his, his tongue thrusting in time with the movements of his pelvis.

“Now,” he demands, his voice hoarse and broken, and I feel his warm seed spurt inside of me, causing my own orgasm to finally break free. I roll my head back as I come hard, riding out my pleasure as I keep rocking on him, Blaze’s name on my lips like a prayer.

“Fuck me,” he growls, bringing my lips roughly down to his and kissing me deeply, our bodies damp with our exertions.

After a few moments, he pulls back, his gaze alert and determined, like he’s just remembered something. He lifts me off his body and places me gently on the bed, dropping a soft kiss on my swollen lips.

“Wait right here,” he says, striding over to the closet and opening it up. He reaches into the pocket of his leather jacket and pulls out a small box, then turns to me with a wide smile on his face.

I take a deep breath. Is that what I think it is…?”

He walks back toward the bed, his naked body glistening with sweat, the outlines of his muscles even more evident in the muted light, and I shift my body to the edge of the bed, planting my feet on the floor.

“This isn’t how I imagined doing this,” he says, his face showing a trace of vulnerability. My eyes blur with unshed tears as he gets down on one knee, holding the tiny box out to me. He opens it up. “Tess, I love you, I’ve loved you since first the time I laid eyes on you at Ink Me.”

My heart flutters at his words, and my mind goes back to that day at my store. I thought he was the most attractive man I had ever seen.

He continues. “You are the only one I have ever loved, and the only one I want to grow old with. Tess Harper,” he says, deliberately using the only name I go by now. “Will you marry me?”

I can’t hold my tears any longer, and they run freely down my face. “You know I asked you, right?” I tease.

He ignores me for the moment and grabs the ring out of the box and places it on my finger. “Yeah, well, I’m the one asking now, and I’m not taking no for an answer this time.”